he last to show total gains, and then the decrease will be slow but
sure until final disappearance."[8]

I have taken this quotation from another work by the same author as it
represents more clearly than any other condensed statement the substance
of the present chapter. This proposition is a most important one, and
therefore its establishment needs to be inquired into with the greatest
particularity. If a race does not possess the requisite physical
stamina, it is impossible for it to maintain a high degree of moral and
intellectual culture or compete with its more vigorous rivals in the
race of civilization.

"All the elements of society are conserved in its physical basis, the
social population."[9]

Since the author relies mainly upon the eleventh census for facts to
establish his conclusion, and since the accuracy of this census is
widely controverted, we may fairly call upon him to prove his document
before it can be admitted in evidence.

The following quotation from Senator Mills reflects the opinion of many
eminent students of public problems as to the accuracy of this
enumeration: "The announcement that our population is only 62,662,250
was a genuine surprise, not only to those who looked for the dark side
of the picture, but also to those whose faith in the administration and
its census bureau had never for a moment wavered. The census of 1880
gave 50,155,783. The present returns give an increase of 12,466,476,
which is at the rate of 24.86 per cent. That this number is not even
approximately correct may be seen by comparing the increase in this
decade with the gain in others which have preceded it. Any alleged fact
that is without the pale of probability stands impeached at the very
threshold of the inquiry, and must be verified by competent evidence."
Basing his estimates upon the school census, the Senator continues: "The
state of Texas is deprived, by the incorrect returns, of at least three
representatives in Congress. Alabama loses 240,000, Tennessee and North
Carolina 170,000 each, and Virginia, Kentucky, and Louisiana 100,000
each."[10] Whatever force there may be in the protest of the eloquent
Texas Senator, applies with special emphasis to the colored element; for
it goes without saying that errors in enumeration in the South would be
confined mainly to the Negro race, and since the bulk of the race is
confined to this section such errors would have a most disastrous effect
upon its rate of inc